Shamrock Rovers 1-0 Dundalk

Shamrock Rovers booked their place in the third round of the EA Sports Cup with a 1-0 victory over Dundalk at Tallaght Stadium.

It was the Hoops who enjoyed the best of a tame first-half and they would have taken an eight minute lead courtesy of a Thomas Stewart header were it not for a fine save from Peter Cherrie in the Dundalk goal.

Dundalk started the second half brightly and had half-chances for Kurtis Byrne and Keith Ward but they couldn’t make them could and were made to pay the price on 56 minutes when Ciaran Kilduff scored the only goal of the game.

Kilduff pounced on a sloppy pass out of defence by Dane Massey before moving forward and unleashing a 30-yard shot that gave Cherrie no chance.

The visitors battled back and Ward had a chance to level shortly after that but he rushed his shot after getting on the end of a cross from Darren Meennan.

Ward had another chance to level things, this one in the dying seconds of the game, but his shot from the edge of the penalty area was tipped behind by Rovers goalkeeper Richard Brush and the Hoops held on.